Portland's Gilded Age of consumption may have spawned consumer debt and a slew of unsold, exorbitant condominiums in the Pearl District. But it's also helped flourish an artisanal culture that will affect two major art colleges.

Two of the state's oldest art colleges -- the Pacific Northwest College of Art and Oregon College of Art & Craft -- re collaborating to create a jointly operated master's of fine art in applied craft and design. The program, which was recently ratified by the board of both colleges, will be publicly announced tonight during a special lecture by New York art critic and dealer Garth Clark at PNCA.

On paper, the new two year-program, which will begin accepting applications later this year and starts in the fall of 2009, doesn't sound extraordinary in the world of higher education. But for these two significant art institutions, it's a new collaborative adventure that also dovetails with the craft-loving, artisanal life approach that has made post-Millennial Portland a precious hub of civility to the rest of the country.

From bikes to pear brandy
The two colleges run traditional fine arts programs, and of the two, only PNCA has a master's program. But the new graduate degree, which will cost students roughly $27,000 per year in tuition, will be a departure for both. Officials from both colleges say the program will focus on the application of art, craft and design in the real world. School officials also say they are open to accepting all kinds of ideas. Some prospective proposals, for example, might be learning how to make high-end bicycles or computer keyboards, or even the perfect pear brandy.

Along with theory and studio classes, students will get hands-on mentoring from Portland-area business professionals specializing in their proposed area of interest. Participating mentors have yet to be confirmed, but for example, a student interested in bikes might be mentored by Vanilla Bicycles founder Sacha White, and someone gravitating toward industrial design products could get extended advice from Ziba Design executive Sohrab Vossoughi.

Other schools in the area -- The Art Institute of Portland and University of Oregon, among others -- have similar applied arts and product design programs. But what distinguishes this one, say PNCA and OCAC officials, is the mentoring program and its intimacy -- 15 students will be accepted into the program each year. OCAC professor Karl Burkheimer also says while other programs focus on making a finished product, this one will emphasize the process of making things. Students won't be required to actually make their proposed products, but they'll learn a lot about them for the sake of it.

"Sometimes, ideas get bigger than capabilities," Burkheimer says. "In this program, students will get involved in the process. They'll be involved with the love of the craft of it."

Seizing the moment
Both colleges are experiencing extraordinary institutional change -- PNCA is in the midst of a major campus expansion and is trying to forge a new educational institute, the Ford Institute for Visual Education, and OCAC is also renovating its campus and nearing the end of a major capital campaign. But the presidents of both colleges -- Tom Manley of PNCA and Bonnie Laing-Malcolmson of OCAC -- say their institutions need to extend their fine arts brand now to include more practical applications and compete with other schools. Most students who graduate from art schools do not become professional artists.

"Our job is to prepare students for a life of creativity," Manley says.

"It's always good to be competitive," says Laing-Malcolmson.

Manley also says the colleges should seize upon the current artisanal mindset driving Portland's cultural conversation, which includes figures from the worlds of design, advertising, architecture, food and elsewhere. During the past several years, both colleges have been successful in securing advice and promotional help from players in these different business worlds for their expansion and capital projects.

Power of two
Officials from both schools say they could start an applied arts program on their own, but their ability to leverage their respective strengths could not be dismissed when they began discussions last year. PNCA is the state's flagship art school and has a design program, while OCAC has a more profound relationship with the heritage of craft.

They also get to pool resources, including the $80,000 startup cost as well as administrative and faculty duties. Officials from both schools say the admissions process will be handled jointly, and they are looking to hire a new program chair to oversee the program.

Though both colleges will run the program, PNCA will confer degrees until OCAC receives final accreditation from the regional accrediting body that oversees Northwest colleges and universities. Degrees will be conferred jointly once OCAC receives that accreditation.

Information on the new program will be posted on the Web sites of each school by the end of the month at: www.pnca.edu and www.ocac.edu.

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